The eastern border of the Roman Empire: AD 260. Roman Emperor Valerian, besieged in the border city of Edessa by the Persians, agrees to peace talks.

But the meeting is a trap. Valerian and his personal guard are captured, and dragged away to slavery in a Persian turquoise mine.

Valerian dies, broken by the hellish conditions and hard labour. But ten members of his guard, led by their commander Marcus Metellus Aquila, stage an audacious escape and go on the run through central Asia.

There they meet up with Dan Qing, a mysterious prince from the eastern land of Sera Maior, the mythical Kingdom of Silk - China. Metellus and his men agree to escort him back to China, tramping for months through the Himalayas and along the old Silk Road.

Once there, they find a usurper has seized Dan Qing's throne. The foreign Romans, with their hairy arms and crested helmets, cause a sensation, however - and pledge to help the prince regain his kingdom.

This gripping new historical novel is from the author of the best-selling Tyrant and The Lost Legion. The escape from the mines and the journey across Asia are as exciting as you'd like, the Romans' slow realisation that they have become foreign strangers in an exotically alien land beautifully done. Only Metellus' romance with a Chinese princess doesn't quite work - and I suspect some of the novel's vividness was lost in translation. But recommended nevertheless.

Updated: 08:54 Saturday, March 04, 2006